Mike Hockley Offers Insight on Missouri Renewables Standard Law

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Groups in Missouri are suing state officials for allegedly thwarting the state’s renewable energy portfolio standard by not specifying that renewable energy credits, which utilities can buy to satisfy the energy mandate, must either be bought from in-state power producers or from out-of-state producers serving Missouri customers.

The complaint was filed Aug. 19 by Great Rivers Environmental Law Center in St. Louis County Circuit Court on behalf of the Missouri Coalition for the Environment and Missouri Solar Applications LLC. According to the complaint, the state’s Joint Committee on Administrative Rules and the secretary of state illegally blocked rules proposed by the Missouri Public Service Commission that would have ensured Missouri’s RPS resulted in the production of renewable power for the benefit of in-state customers.

Under current law, Missouri’s investor-owned utilities have until 2021 to get 15% of the electricity they sell from renewables. But as the law stands, the utilities can buy renewable energy credits, or RECs, “on the national, or even global, market that represent energy with no relation to Missouri and use them to comply with the Missouri [renewable energy standard],” according to the complaint.